‘Tis the season to plan your schedule for next semester. Yes, already. Which means it is time for a reminder that you Need! To! Plan! All! Four! Years!! Don’t go semester by semester to plan out your classes. That is how you guarantee that you will be in school at least an extra semester, taking a 100 level class you forgot your sophomore year. So. How do you actually plan out…
Read MoreYou Are Valid
Music is one of the toughest majors out there. Not just because of the classwork – although I can tell you, that part is tough too. No, it’s tough because of the sheer number of people you’ll meet who do not believe in it. There are hundreds of thousands of people out there who will sit through a movie with an amazing soundtrack (written by musicians, performed by instrumentalists), sing…
Read MoreEfficient Practice Tips
To practice effectively, you need to be able to do two main things: prioritize, and know when you’ve lost focus. A lot of performance majors feel overwhelmed at the sheer amount of music they need to learn, but that doesn’t need to be the case. If you practice efficiently, you’ll find it much easier to learn all of your music quickly. Don’t dive into the music and try to play…
Read MoreWhat’s a Jury?? Help
Juries: the looming cloud at the end of every semester. Freshmen are told about them, and upperclassmen complain and warn about them. But what, in fact, are they? Who knows? I do. I know. I’m sorry, I tried to be dramatic there, and it didn’t – anyway. A jury is basically your final every semester for your private lessons. Every instrument is different, but for essentially every one, you will…
Read MoreAdvice to My College Freshman Self
So often I write stuff here that is supposed to be widely applicable advice. It’s supposed to help out as many people as possible! However, as I’ve just started my final year of my undergraduate degree, I’ve been thinking a lot about what would have been useful advice to my freshman self. What kind of things would have been useful for younger me to hear? So I wrote a list.…
Read MoreSelf-Care for Musicians
DID YOU KNOW: Being a music major is widely considered highly stressful. A friend of mine made a joke the other day about how she is always on the verge of tears, she is so stressed as a musician. Then she saw a squirrel and started crying because it had an acorn. Keep in mind, my school has been in session three days. And while that might be a bit extreme,…
Read MoreHow to Talk to People
It turns out that talking to people you don’t know is SUPER SCARY. It also turns out that making friends in a room where you don’t know anyone is a really valuable skill, musician or not. And especially if you’re still in your first couple weeks of college, talking to people you don’t know is a really good thing to do! That’s how I met most of my best friends…
Read MoreHow to Buy Textbooks (A Beginner’s Guide)
It turns out that textbooks are like, HELLA expensive. Just, so expensive. So costly. Too much. A student who has their first semester of Many Required Textbooks can really face some sticker shock when it comes to getting their books. But fear not! Here are some tips to HALVE your textbook costs this semester! Check your school’s library for books before you buy them. A lot of textbooks are held…
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